Imagine this: You get up and decide that today is going to be your day. You’re going to take a hold of life by its extensions and make it work for you. Feeling empowered, and motivated, you hop out of bed and head to the bathroom for morning rituals.

After you’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time in the shower, you hop out and dab moisturizer all over your face, and while thinking of something cookie-cutter to put on, your eyes wander over to your newest purchase.

You run over and hold the MAC bag up in glory, it’s like the makeup is radiating from within it! You look over at the 99-cent lip gloss sitting on the dresser and brush it to the side, your hand diving for the good stuff that you’ve been saving for a special day.

Today is Tuesday. Special enough.

You pull out that 15-color MAC palette. You know, the one that has every single color to make the perfect cat-eye? You dig deeper in the makeup bag and out pops your Studio Tech in your perfect shade- NW35. Check. Your irresistible nude lip gloss – Chai – over your perfect lipstick – Fresh Brew. Check and check.

You apply it. Immediately, you feel as if you’re strutting down the runway in Paris, head held high, gracefully draped in the finest frock that designers have to offer. You stop so photographers can get a close-up of your flawless glowing brown skin. You wink and turn on your heels just as daintily as you bounced in, exit stage left, and pounce off the catwalk, energized and ready to take on the world.

You head out to begin your day. Hair slicked smooth, head bopping, you feel refreshed. Humming Desiree’s, “Gotta Be”, you take a moment to thank God for your blessings. Life is pretty sweet.

It’s at that moment, the unavoidable happens. You overhear a conversation between two girls standing behind you. The words, “I’m too pretty for makeup,” haphazardly falls out of one’s mouth and hangs off your eardrum like a leech. Surprised you look in her direction… just as she and her friend look away.

This baffles me. It used to be that women who wore makeup that put down women who didn’t. Now the roles are reversed and non-makeup lovers are going after lipstick holders with a vengeance. I admit nothing beats a fresh face. But there is something innately wrong when you feel that it’s okay to completely degrade another woman’s choices of beauty in order to mask your own insecurities. Newsflash: Any woman who starts off with the phrase, “I’m too pretty for, I’m too hot for, or I’m too whatever for,” probably isn’t.

For some, makeup gives them a brief feeling of being the “it” girl on the runway. For others, it’s simply an accessory kept nearby to bring out for the right occasion. But I personally feel slighted when even the smallest remark, spewed in a moment of hidden jealousy, is intended to downplay any woman’s personal reasons for wearing makeup.

To all you non makeup wearers, you may think I’m overreacting. But finding the latest and greatest in beauty products can be so exhilarating. I will be the first to say that I walk around with a MAC badge pinned across my chest, a Makeup-Forever sign tattooed on forehead, and a Sephora lapel on my blouse. And, in moments of frugality, I tote my Revlon, NYX, and Maybelline buttons with pride.

You would think that in a world where we have to worry about health care, financial reform, the war, AIDS, politics, education, gangs… that we can all find a little happiness in the Viva Glam collection.

So for the ladies, who think that they are “too pretty”, please stop. Embrace the rouge and blend some color into your life. It never fails to add a hint of personal expression. A contour here, a highlight there, a crease, a swatch – anything. But please discard the mask of hatred you endorse against us makeup wearers.

A true woman realizes that she doesn’t need makeup; her beauty will speak for itself. But personally I happen to like it – and I love being a woman.

There are two times a day when I feel the most beautiful. When I first put makeup on in the morning, and when I wash it off at night. I know that I’m beautiful. Period. Makeup just enhances it. Nobody needs makeup and not all of us have to wear it, but it is so much fun! For me, it is wearable art therapy. I can’t draw or paint, but I can beat my face, best believe
I am beautiful…

Candy i love that !!!

i totally get that ..thank you for providing the words for the way i feel !!!!
wow!

Alyssa

I think that there are many people who talk about how pretty and hot that they are only because they obviously have a lot of self-confidence. Being seventeen and fitting in with all the girls who are so pretty isn’t easy. I believe that every teenage girl struggles with feeling beautiful. I do not wear makeup except for mascara occasionally because I believe that inner beauty does shine through, and I look like a hooker when I wear any makeup ha. But I mean what if I have a zit on my forehead? Is somebody going to like me less? I do not find it necessary to cake on pounds of makeup to feel “pretty” like most girls in high school. Yes, it is your opinion that makeup is good or needed but why spend the money on something that makes you FEEL a certain way about yourself. Without it do you feel badly about yourself? Or do you feel ugly without it? You can’t depend on makeup to always make you happy. YOU have to be happy with or without it.